Page 1 1969 1.5 cu. ft. Copyright: Michigan State University Property Rights: Michigan State University Acc. No.: UA 409 Donor: Madison Kuhn History Walter Adams was chosen to be Michigan State University's 13 th president. Prior to his acceptance of the post, Adams was a professor of Economics at Michigan State University. Adams was asked to succeed President John A. Hannah, who had resigned his position as President in order to accept that as Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID), in Washington, DC. Adams assumed presidency on April 1, 1969 and vacated the office on January 1, 1970. At the outset, Adams made very clear that he did not want to be considered for the permanent presidency, a stand he maintained throughout, as is manifested in his letter to Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Don Stevens, on October 16, 1969 (Box 614, File 22). Adams maintained this position despite the fact that he was very popular with the students, faculty, and the Board of Trustees. When he stepped down from the Presidency, he resumed his former position, a post he held until retiring on December 31, 1992. During his administration, Adams had to confront issues which were part of the general social and political conditions found throughout the United States (viz. Box 614, Files 7, 17, 18, 41, 51, and 71; Box 596, Files 2, 16, 20, 39, 47), as well as problems specific to Michigan State University. During his administration, the School of Osteopathic Medicine began to become a reality (Box 614, Files 29, 30), the Center for Urban Affairs became established (Box 614, Files 17, 18), and a proposal was made to establish a Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies (Box 614, File 62).
Page 2 Walter Adams was born August 27, 1922 in Vienna, Austria. He received a BA from Brooklyn College in 1942, and his MA and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University in 1946 and 1947, respectively. His graduate studies were interrupted by World War II, during which he served, with distinction, in the U.S. Army (1943-1945), receiving the Bronze Star Medal for heroic conduct. In 1947, he joined the Michigan State faculty in Economics Department. After a long battle with the disease, Walter Adams died of complications from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 76, on September 8, 1998. Adams, and his wife Pauline, had one son, William J. Adams. Scope and Content The Adams Collection consists of files largely kept in the subject files maintained by his office. There were very few occasions which necessitated a reordering of his materials. The processor merely transferred the contents from their original files to acid-free folders, and photocopied documents already found to be deteriorating onto acid-free paper. The files have been ordered into three major groups: Administrative Subject Files (Box 614, Files 1-76; Box 596, Files 1-20 and 48-49), Correspondence (Box 596, Files 21-41) and Speeches (Box 596, Files 42-47). Administrative Subject Files and Correspondence Files have been placed in alphabetical order, while the Speeches Files are organized in chronological order. The Administrative Subject Files contain correspondence, monographs, and other documents pertaining to daily administrative affairs and special problems. Among the notable files of the latter are those dealing with various protests, one of which received national coverage (Box 596, File 2). Some of the Administrative Subject Files contain monographs which are concerned with important issues of the day, such as "A Report and Recommendation of the Joint Legislative Committee on Aid to Non-Public Schools" and "Preliminary of the Special Committee on ROTC to the Secretary of Defense" (Box 614, File 51). The correspondence files deal with various subjects and were created in an effort to keep material from the State of Michigan and Federal Government together. One of these files (Box 596, File 33) contains a letter from President Richard Nixon to Secretary George Romney. Walter Adams, August 1983 Revised, September 1999
Page 3 Container Listing I. ADMINISTRATIVE SUBJECT FILES Associations 614 1 Alumni -- 1969 2 American Association of Universities -- 1969 3 American Association of University Women -- 1969 4 American Economics Association -- 1969 5 Agronne Universities Association -- 1969 6 Athletic Council -- 1969 7 Michigan Council of State College Presidents -- 1969 8 Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities --1969 9 National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges --1969 10 Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Copy of By-laws -- 1969 Board of Trustees 11 Agenda. Agenda for meeting of June 20, 1969 12 Meeting in May -- 1969 13 Special Meeting -- August 1, 1969 14 Calendar -- 1969 Centers 15 Health -- 1969 16 Highway Traffic Safety -- 1969 17 Urban Affairs -- 1969 18 Urban Affairs. Positions -- 1969 Colleges 19 Agriculture and Natural Resources -- 1969 20 Arts and Letters -- 1969 21 Business -- 1969 22 Business. Positions -- 1969 23 Communication Arts --1969 24 Dean's Evaluations -- 1969 25 Education --1969 26 Education. Departments -- 1969 27 Engineering --1969 28 Home Economics --1969 29 Human Medicine --1969 30 Human Medicine. Departments --1969 31 Natural Science -- 1969 32 Natural Science. Departments -- 1969 33 Osteopathic Medicine (1969) -- 1969
Page 4 614 34 Social Science. Departments -- 1969 35 University --1969 36 University. Departments -- 1969 37 Veterinary Medicine -- 1969 38 Commencement. Spring Term -- 1969 39 Commendations -- 1969 Committees 40 Academic Senate -- 1969 41 Ad Hoc Committee Placement Center --1969 42 Ad Hoc Fee Committee --1969 43 Administrative Group --1969 44 All University Traffic -- 1969 45 Athletic Council -- 1969 46 Commencement -- 1969 47 Computer -- 1969 48 Faculty Advisory For Public Safety -- 1969 49 Faculty Affairs -- 1969 50 Hidden lake Gardens Advisory -- 1969 51 Military Education Advisory -- 1969 52 Multi-Racial (to recommend procedures for investigating complaints of racial discrimination) -- 1969 53 Provost Search and Selection -- 1969 54 Retirement -- 1969 54a University Student Affairs. Report on Demonstration against General Electric Recruiters -- n.d. 55 Departments. Business -- 1969 Offices 56 Comptroller -- 1969 56a Financial Aids -- 1969 Personal 57 Assistant. Elliott Ballard -- 1969 58 Attorney. Leland, W. Carr, Jr. -- 1969 59 Joseph McMillan - Urban Affairs Center (c.f.) -- 1969 60 Provost -- 1969 61 Provost. Honors College -- 1969 62 Provost. John E. Cantlon -- 1969 63 Secretary Board of Trustees --1969 64 Registrar -- 1969 65 Student -- 1969 66 Vice-President for Business and Finance -- 1969 67 Vice-President for Special Projects -- 1969
Page 5 614 68 Vice-President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students -- 1969 69 Press Releases -- 1969 Programs 70 Intercollegiate Athletics -- 1969 71 International -- 1969 72 Military Science and Aerospace Studies -- 1969 73 Mott Fellowship -- 1969 74 Upward Bound -- 1969 75 Projects. Detroit -- 1969 76 Projects. Law School -- 1969 Protests 596 1 Journalism Students -- 1969 2 Placement Offices -- 1969 3 Public Relations. Dialogue '70 -- 1969 Public Safety 4 Monthly Reports -- 1969 5 Weekly Reports -- 1969 Schools 6 Advanced Graduate Studies -- 1969 7 Graduate. Business -- 1969 8 High and Grade Schools -- 1969 9 Labor and Industrial Relations -- 1969 10 Out of State -- n.d. 11 State Supported -- 1969 12 University. Oakland -- 1969 13 Services. Book Store -- 1969 Students 14 Deaths -- 1969 15 Organizations -- n.d. 16 Organizations. Associated Students of MSU -- 1969 17 Organizations. Fraternities -- 1969 18 Organizations. Varsity Club -- 1969 19 University Relations -- 1969 20 Vietnam Moratorium -- October 15, 1969 II. CORRESPONDENCE 21 General --1969 22 Board of Trustees -- 1969 23 Board of Trustees. Meetings -- 1969 24 Breakfast Group and Council of Deans -- 1969
Page 6 Community 596 25 Capitol Area Economic Opportunity -- 1969 26 Churches -- 1969 27 Lansing Model Cities Programs -- 1969 28 Other -- 1969 29 Complaints -- 1969 30 Congratulations -- 1969 31 Executive Vice-President -- 1969 Federal 32 National Science Foundation -- 1969 33 Housing and Urban Development -- 1969 34 Miscellaneous -- 1969 35 Off-Campus -- 1969 36 State of Michigan -- n.d. State of Michigan 37 Department of Education -- 1969 38 Governor -- 1969 39 Huber Commission (to study campus disorder and student unrest) -- 1969 40 Legislature -- 1969 41 Students -- 1969 III. SPEECHES 42 Special Meetings of Academic Senate -- May 8, 1969 43 Retirement Luncheon -- May 12, 1969 44 ROTC Commissioning -- May 20, 1969 45 Lantern Night -- May 31, 1969 46 Commencement -- June 8, 1969 47 "Vietnam: A Perversion of U.S. Priorities" (c.f. File 20, Box 518) -- October 15, 1969 48-50 RESTRICTED